Journey of Magnet Excellence
For nearly six decades, Gracie Square Hospital has been a mainstay of the Upper East Side, providing the highest quality and most compassionate care to adults 18 years and older with behavioral health needs who can benefit from inpatient hospitalization. Gracie Square Hospital offers individuals a warm and welcoming environment in which to receive state-of-the-art treatment to facilitate a healthy recovery.
Gracie Square Hospital Executive Director & Chief Nursing Officer
Dear Colleagues,
We Did It!! We are now a Magnet® designated organization! 2022 was a truly amazing year! We have so much to be proud of and acknowledge. Despite the unprecedented challenges over the past several years, we accomplished extraordinary goals as one team. Throughout 2022 we worked together to achieve a successful Magnet site visit. So much time and planning went into the preparation for this visit, and the teamwork paid off tremendously. On December 14, 2022, we received a call from the American Nurse Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Commission on Magnet® who made the announcement that Gracie Square Hospital achieved Magnet® designation. Everyone, whether you met with the appraisers or stayed on the unit caring for patients, was exceptional. The appraisers were so impressed with the nurses, support staff, Board of Trustees, and our community partners. Our site visit was described as “magical” - there was so much tangible energy and enthusiasm! Thank you to everyone involved in this extraordinary recognition for the work you do every day.
This significant accomplishment sets the stage for what’s ahead in 2023. We are excited to finalize our Planetree Gold re-application, due in March 2023. Thank you to all who have worked so hard toward achieving this important goal. Our quality clinical indicators continue to be met and our employee engagement scores, released in 2022, were fantastic. The GSH mean in 2019 was 3.68 and improved to 4.01 in 2022. In addition, employees reported a significant increase in all 3 safety culture scores from 2021 to 2022. Thanks again to all the employees who completed this survey. Managers for each department will be facilitating employee engagement goals and tactics for 2023 based on your input and ideas.
In addition to continuing to celebrate our Magnet Designation and expected Planetree recognition, we plan are revamping our professional governance committee structure in 2023. We kicked off the improvements in January 2023, making the second Tuesday of each month designated as scheduled time for collaboration and innovation initiatives and meetings. Also in January 2023, we began the GSH Nursing Clinical Ladder as a professional development and recognition program for increasing nurse satisfaction, retention, and recognition opportunities.
On the facilities side, construction work in day rooms will be completed in 2023 to meet external safety requirements. We will also be completing significant work in the employee locker rooms. This work is scheduled to begin in early 2023. Dr. Wilner and I will be seeking your input into the design of the renovated locker rooms.
Thank you for contributions you make to patients, each other, and the communities. We continue to highlight Gracie Square Hospital and the wonderful work done by all of you. Please be sure to look for GSH on LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media outlets.
Sincerely,
Timothy P. McGarvey MSN, LMSW, RN, NEA-BC
Executive Director & Chief Nursing Officer
Gracie Square Nursing Department: Our Mission & Vision
The foundation to our journey of nursing excellence is our commitment to our patients and communities as expressed in our mission and vision statements. Through our Professional Governance Model, our nurses own their professional practice, allowing each individual to perform to the top of their professional license.
Mission
To serve our communities by providing world-class person and family centered care in an empowering and innovative professional nursing practice environment.
Vision
To be the world leader in nursing.
- Proactive
- Quality, Safety, and Outcomes
- Research
- Education
- Service Excellence
The Roadmap – Our Strategic Plan
This is a “living” document that is the basis of the work we do to promote professional development, patient safety and quality care, an improved work environment, utilization of technology to support nurses in the day to day functions, and patient engagement in achieving health and well-being. The Strategic Plan consists of the following major domains: professional development and education, quality and patient safety, advancing care, operational excellence, technology innovation, nursing engagement, and patient-family experience.
| Themes (Areas of Focus) | What we want to accomplish |
|---|---|
| Professional Development and Education (PDE) |
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| Quality and Safety (QS) |
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| Advancing Clinical Practice |
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| Technology and Innovations |
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| Nursing Engagement |
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| Patient-Family Experience |
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| Workforce Development |
|
Our Professional Practice Model
2025 Measures of Distinction
40%
National Board Certification Rate
95%
Percent of RNs with BSN and Higher Degrees
9
Newly Obtained National Board Certification
4
Formal Degrees Conferred
1
Nursing Research Studies Completed
3
Nursing Research Studies in Progress
1
Professional Publication(s)
3
Podium Presentation(s)
2025 Contributions of Nurses
2025 Highlight (SE)
Optimizing Structures for Trauma Recovery and Improved Safety
The Nursing Professional Development (NPD) department planned intensive education to address the learning needs assessment in which nurses’ expressed the need for new knowledge related to trauma-informed care and aggressive patient behaviors. The organization’s leaders acquired resources and leveraged experts which empowered the educators to meet the learning needs for staff. Clinical nurse experts, certified by the New York State Office of Mental Health, as trainers for the Therapeutic Relationships and Universal Safety Training program (TRUST) included Shmuel Bieler, MSN, RN, PMH-BC (Mood Disorders Unit); Mitchell Rubin, BSN, RN (Older Adult and Asian Population); Hillary Lamb, BSN, RN (Older Adult and Asian Program); and, Ellen Gatski, MSN, RN (Nurse Educator). The TRUST program is the gold standard for therapeutic modality, de-escalation techniques and crisis management training through implementation of trauma-informed practices and patient-centered care. Mr. Bieler, Mr. Rubin, Ms. Lamb, and Ms. Gatski led the organization’s clinical transformation to adopt evidence-based practices to promote patient wellness, resilience, self-management of behaviors, and healing from trauma and past experiences, creating a trauma-informed practice environment to promote patient stabilization and recovery.
The effectiveness of the program was supported by a reduction in the patient seclusion rate following training of at least 80% of the interprofessional staff. As nurses and interprofessional teams applied new knowledge and skills focused on understanding aggression as a survival response, they prioritized physical and psychological safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, and skill-building to minimize escalating behaviors and strengthen the nurse-patient relationship and therapeutic milieu. The organizational level patient seclusion rate per 1,000 patient days was 0.99 (February 2024) and 0.62 (March 2024). Following the transformation and application of the therapeutic skills and practices, the seclusion rate decreased to 0.59 (September 2025), 0.52 (October 2025), and 0.20 (November 2025).
